Synchronized combinations of audio, video, still images, and text are generically referred to as video clips. Through digitization, the electromagnetic signals which are used to represent each of these video clip components may be reduced to binary data files. These files may be stored in combination as video clip data files and may be transferred to and displayed by display units which are capable of processing the video clip data.
One way of distributing video clip data involves placing video clip data files on file servers which are accessible to users of digital computer systems through channels such as the Internet and analogous subscription network services. Ideally, such users could locate video clip data files, discern the data formats of the video clip data components, and process the video clip data on their digital computer systems to achieve display of the video clip. However, to date there exists no organized system for facilitating the identification of the data formats of the component data files which comprise a video clip data file, nor is there presently a digital computer system based video clip display unit which is capable of providing a coherent and synchronized display of the combination of audio, video, still images, and text represented by the data contained in such a video clip data file.